Instructional Goal Structure: Cooperative, Competitive, or Individualistic

Abstract

Theories of instruction are prescriptive, in the sense that they set forth rules concerning or specifying the most effective way of achieving knowledge or mastering skills. Although there has been a great deal of debate concerning various aspects of the instructional situation, most educators seem to assume that there are no operational alternatives to the competitive goal structure in which students are expected to outperform their peers. There has been little recognition of the powerful effects the goal structure has upon student behavior, and the relevant social psychological research has never been fully reviewed. There are four possible goal structures which can be implemented in a learning situation: competitive, cooperative, individualistic, and no structure. Each type of goal structure has an implicit value foundation which is taught subtly, as an unconscious curriculum, to the student who interacts within it. There is a great deal of evidence that the process by which students learn (i.e., the way in which students interact and behave in learning situations) and the outcomes of learning are both largely determined by the goal structure implemented by educators. The purpose of this article is to present a review of the research on the use of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures on learning processes and outcomes. Before beginning the review the authors wish to make their bias clear. We believe that cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures are all appropriate and effective under different conditions, that educators should use all three goal structures depending upon the specific instructional objectives, and that students should be taught the basic skills necessary to function in all three types of situations. There are some difficulties, however, with presenting a complete view of the conditions under which each type of goal structure should be used. There is little research comparing individualistic goal structures with cooperative and competitive goal structures and, therefore, the research on cooperation and competition dominates the review. Although there is a great deal of research comparing cooperative and competitive goal structures, this research has not clearly specified the conditions under which each is desirable. Much of the current literature on educational